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Create a Comic Strip on a Mac

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Windows users not in the know often point out that the Mac is good for graphics but isn’t a real business computer. That’s false reasoning, but with an element of truth. The Mac is great for graphics, image manipulation, media management, and pretty much anything else. Feature films and television shows are edited on Apple’s Final Cut Pro. Award winning music is recorded and edited on Apple’s Logic Studio. You’ll love the segue, but what about comics?

As a young teenager I dreamed of being a comic strip writer. Aside from writing imaginary book reports complete with imaginary plot, characters, and publisher (I always got an A), my talent for imagination didn’t extend to drawing characters in a three panel strip, let alone a whole Mad Magazine or super hero comic book.

High Tech Life

However, I can take photos, I can crop, I can create a simple story line, and, through the years, I’ve learned to drag and drop, and that’s about all you need to create a cool personal comic strip or comic book with ComicLife.

Tech Tools

Tools of the comic trade have changed through the years. Decades ago all a comic book wannabe required was a special pen, some special paper, some writing skills, some graphic illustration skills.

The rest was imagination and persistence, the former sometimes not as important as the latter.

ComicLife provides the tools to match your writing and photography skills. The ability to illustrate your story is a plus, but not a requirement anymore. Drag and drop dialog balloons, point and click to creative page layouts, add boffo text headlines in any color, font or style—without an ounce of talent.

Point and click, drag and drop are your friends.

ComicLife is Art

Life is, if you make it, art. Plasq makes the art easier with drag and drop of your own photos from iPhoto, any one of which can be enhanced, filtered, and manipulated in true comic book design.

Photos can be made to look like comic book illustrations with just a few clicks from a tool panel that is intuitive and with effects and changes that are non-destructive.

Writer, Publish Thyself

The process is deceptively simple, elegant, and totally fit for the trial and error crowd, of which I’m a charter member. Create a new document, select a layout, drag and drop photos in a story line sequence, add dialog, add colors and effects.

Get ready to publish thyself.

ComicLife is an excellent tool for creating comic books, yes, but much more. Use it to create How To Guides, greeting cards, family photo albums or holiday albums, even scrap books.

Packaged Cool

Plasq says ComicLife is so easy you and your dog can do it. Forget the dog. Your dog is a creative paperweight. All you need is a few photos and an idea.

It doesn’t even have to be a good idea. That’s what trial and error is all about.

ComicLife comes in two versions, standard and deluxe, the latter with more fonts, more templates, and more styles, for a slightly higher ($10) price tag.

There’s also ComicLife Magiq which adds more professional tools, panels, and options, all in a trial-and-error before you buy routine. If you’ve ever wanted to create a comic strip, comic book, or even how-to booklets, ComicLife is a delight tool and highly recommended for the Al Capp or Scott Adams lurking deep in our souls.

Bank On It

Manage your money and control finances better than Quicken with Banktivity 7. Start with templates and setup event based budgets, track bills, check investments and monitor assets, record all your transactions, view reports, and sync between Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

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